Downloading MP3 Music - Is that wrong?

by JH 15 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Satanus

  Francois

  True enough, however... A french premier said, 'when the law is an ass, the people rebel'. When govt backs corporate ripoffs, what ya gonna do? I could site the example of the american revolution over tea taxes, which were 'legal'. Govt and corps will push things as far as they possibly can. The only thing that can limit them is 'we the people'. When govt sides w corps instead of the people, it is called fascism.

  The recording industry could have supplied a better service to it's customers years ago. But, they have the monoply, and make so much money through it, they think that they can hold onto it. Ten yrs ago, it was in the news that music stores would be able to download and make a cd in store, w whatever songs a customer wanted. It never materialized. The recording industry would have preempted napster, and it still could.

  In fact the attorneys general of 28 states have concluded that the recording industry is acting illegally. See http://news.com.com/2100-1023-244195.html?legacy=cnet

  A thread on this at http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=38484&site=3

  SS
• 

  TR

  I look for sounds I haven't heard before that I like on KaaZaa. If I like the music, I go buy the cd. I also download music that I can't find at the stores.

  TR
• 

  Simon

  I think the problem is that though it is wrong to use music that you have not paid for, everyone knows that the companies and people involved are making huge profits and things are overpriced.

  In the UK, a music CD can set you back 15 pounds or more (about 23 USD) and DVDs are upto 20 pounds. They are simply charging the maximum that they think the market will stand (as shown by the prices in other countries). Things such as regional encoding are cynical attempts to allow and keep this selective pricing. DVDs are cheaper to produce than VHS Cassetts and yet typically cost twice the price.

  If the prices were more reasonable then people would not copy even if it was cheaper ... it would just not be worth the inconvenience.

  Would I copy a DVD if it costs 20 quid to buy it? Probably. If it was only 7 or 8 quid? Probably not.

  I do believe that there are probably several different things being talked about here:

  1. Making backup copies of discs that you own for your own use. OK
  2. Sharing copies of discs that you own with friends and family. Dodgy
  3. Selling copies of discs that you own with others. Well dodgy
  4. Mass duplication of discs by piraters. Totall illegal.

  I think most people do 1+2 and would be comfortable with it.
• 

  Makena1

  Interesting discussion. I just got an RCA MP3 player. It's very compact, use it while working out at the club, has decent sound quality and even has an FM radio that I have used at the Seahawks games. So far I have not downloaded anything from the net - just select songs from CD's I have purchased.

  When and if I do - it will be as Trauma Hound wrote - to listen to tracks of CD's to find music that I would not ordinarily be made aware of and then purchase the CD.

  As a young teen Jdub, I had a reel to reel tape recorders (Saba and Telefunken). Did not have money for vinyl, and parents would have probably tossed the records I wanted anyway - so my only source of music was recording from the radio. I still have hours of WBBM FM in Chicago from the early 70's - a station that played a wide range of music at the time.

  Side story, one of the local Chicago bands at the time, Wilderness Road, had a song called "Bounty Man" that I really liked. Years later I found the vinyl in a used record store. Just recently I connected with the lead guitar player of the band through the internet. Interesting guy, still involved in local theater and music production. We regularly email each other and plan on meeting some day to strum the guitars.

  FWIW - here is a link to a Rolling Stone review of their first album that got great reviews:

  http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/cd/review.asp?aid=52356&cf=

  excerpt: Imagine a fusion of Ford's The Searchers, Stevens' Shane, Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, Malle's The Fire Within, throw in a passage or two from Freud, Jung, Huckleberry Finn, Moby-Dick, and play some of the gentle traditional music of Elizabeth Cotten for a soundtrack and you've got at least some of it.

  Mak

  ramblin' on Thanksgiving morning and looking forward to Mulan's cooking this afternoon - yum!
• 

  orangefatcat

  My son want's to respond to this from his own point of view

  love Orangefatcat

  This is a debate still growing strong within the music community,Personally as an Artist and DJ i feel that it is not stealing,most of the songs on the net either taken from personal sites or peer 2 peer applications is alright becuz they were purchesed at some point,true some songs you cannot find anymore even in stores,here in canada we a commision that is dedicated to giving royalites to aritist and companys when a person buys a blank CD,Tape,DVD and so on to incite that someone may feel that this is stealing from an artist should have their fucking head examined i spent almost a quarter million dollers to produce and distrubitute my album now as current total i have sold a lot of units.and i can even find my CD on the net,this in fact actully makes me happy becuz i am doing what artist want to do they want the music for the people thats why they started and Bands of musicians that bitch and complain about not getting there dues are obviously doing it only for the money which is bullshit,there is no money in the world that can buy a persons happyness as there passing by and you hear your own song coming from someones car or stero or wherever,true i do put alot of long hours for my occupation but its damn worth it when im preforming at a Club and im watching all the people go wild on the dance floor to the music that i love and enjoy preforming so for all your metalicas and other fuck nut bands go fuck yourselves and get out of the bussiness there are better artists then you that respect there fans...... and an elder wouldnt take it becuz he would have some god aweful moral obligation to himself that it would be stealing................. MUSIC IS FOR MASSES....peace DJ Ra
• 

  Big Tex

  The furor over Kazaa and Napster and similar websites stems from record labels who are seeing their windfall profits dwindle. For years, they have told the consumer to bend over and grab their ankles. I for one, see nothing wrong, either ethically or legally, with downloading MP3s.